Tag Archives: Manga

The truest test of popularity is whether or not someone can recognize your costume after 50 years. That’s no doubt the case with this famous monster-bashing Japanese television icon, Ultraman. Built by Jan Lego, this ultra-pose-able figure is actually based on the more recent manga series design, but he nonetheless kicks just as much monster-butt with more style to boot.

Packed with detail, Jan’s Ultraman is a prime example of a well built brick figure utilizing form and shaping to its fullest advantage. If you want to see dozens more views of this beauty, head over to Jan’s Ultraman album–you won’t be disappointed, although overconfident kaiju may be.

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In the Death Note manga series by Tsugumi Ohba, the character Ryuk is a shinigami or “death god” who meddles in human affairs by giving a young man named Light a notebook that enables him to kill anybody at will. While not particularly my style of manga, I can certainly appreciate this LEGO bust of Ryuk by Ilia. Ryuk’s hair and wings (?) blend into the dark background Ilia uses, making his eyes and teeth jump out even more. The character’s iconic apple makes another contrasting splash of color.

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Current followers of Manga will recognize this as the Terra Formar, a humanoid evolution of cockroaches that lives on Mars (…hmmm, ok). I’m terrified enough of the domestic variety, so this is the stuff of nightmares!

This LEGO version is the work of our favorite Japanese builder Moko, who decided he should pit it against one of his other bug-eyed creations, Kamen rider. At first, Kamen Rider does well by delivering an effective wound to the thorax:

But then he decides to karate-chop off the Terra Formar’s head. Big mistake! Because as we all know, that move is basically ineffective on cockroaches and their kin. The thought of this brute running around headless for two weeks is just too horrible to imagine. Hopefully Moko’s next creation will be some kind of giant boot.

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The iconic cast of Star Wars characters has been immortalized in LEGO in may different styles over the years and Rod Gillies (2 Much Caffeine) has a fresh take on the Star Wars universe if they were Anime Manga characters:

Each figure is fantastically detailed and worthy of a blog post … even the base is fantastically done.

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One of our resident masters of Mecha Izzo Legostyle returns to give you the uncut fix you so desperately need. The model is based on Japanese Manga also known as “Linebarrels of Iron” that tells a boilerplate story of a bullied junior high school student who acquires super powers and a giant robot to dispense justice and one-liners while causing a great deal of mayhem. I’m not sure why, but my eye is drawn to those beefy yet precarious looking legs.

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Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another tap-out edition of Friday Night Fights! Tonight’s bout is a classic match-up of hipster vs manga-nerd with street-cred on the line. Let’s go to the tale of the tape:

Fighting out of the red corner, from The city of big shoulders…Dave “The Killer” Kaleta and his “Bat-Cow and Robin“.

And fighting out of the blue corner, from the school of hard knocks…”Murderin'” Mike Dung (MikeVd) and his “misaka“.

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this pugilistic endeavor by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the battle for logistical supremacy, a broad slate of judges called the fight 7-5 in favor of NathanƝ. Tune in next week for another action-packed edition of Friday Night Fights!

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TKH takes to the sky with this creation based on the Manga and Anime, Strike Witches. I’m not an Anime fan, but I can appreciate this build. It’s quite unique, follows the subject matter very well, and looks awesome. What more could you ask for?

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Though I am not familiar with the subject, this articulated master-piece by Mike Nieves really strikes a chord. It never ceases to amaze me how much personality can be portrayed with these little things we call LEGO.

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Iain Heath knows what I like. Hayao Miyazaki is my favorite director, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is easily my favorite animated movie — more so because I love the manga version that Miyazaki continued writing and drawing for ten years after the movie was released. Naturally, I prefer it in the original Japanese.

I’m sure you won’t begrudge me, dear readers, taking this opportunity to remind everyone that this is precisely the sort of wonderful LEGO model we’re looking for as part of the Big in Japan display at BrickCon.

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I enjoy seeing genres and bandwagons being approached with a sort of irreverent creativity, so it was great to see this OTOMech Model TK-MM, built by Dave Sterling (half of ToT-LUG) for the 2009 MOClympics. It was inspired by the Otomen manga series and brainstorming with other LEGO fans, which is a great way to get silly ideas.

My favorite features are the kitty greebles and the simple fact that the cockpit fits a Fabuland figure, but there’s a lot of other stuff to love.